Toy tester Ayesha and local stage school on the Late Late Toy Show

THE Late Late Toy Show will be bursting with local interest this year, with Carlow kids playing a huge part in Irish TV’s biggest night of the year.

Carlow’s Spotlight Stage School will once again feature in the show’s spectacular opening, with 22 Carlow children this week sworn to absolute secrecy about its closely-guarded opening theme.

Ayesha Yousas (10) from Granby Row, Carlow will be living every Irish childs dream by becoming a toy tester on the Late Late Toy Show this Friday night

“All I can say is that every year the opening seems to get bigger and bigger and this is our biggest yet,” enthused Stuart O’Connor of Spotlight Stage School.

“The theme is very different this year and it’s by far the highest and biggest set we’ve ever had. The prop we use towards the end is the biggest we’ve ever had … it’s enormous,” hints Stuart.

Ayesha Yousas (10) from Granby Row, Carlow will live every Irish child’s dream by becoming a toy tester on the show this Friday night.

“She’s really excited and just delighted to do it,” said her proud mum Eleanor. “She’ll be making slime using her own recipe and she’s on towards the end of the show because it’s going to get very messy,” adds Eleanor.

The Carlow Educate Together pupil sent in an audition tape earlier this year to become a Late Late Show toy tester. The video featured Ayesha making slime and also singing a song she’ll be performing in Striking Productions’ upcoming show in the George Bernard Shaw Theatre, A Christmas Carol.

Ayesha’s bubbly personality wowed the Late Late producers and she got the call. Talented Ayesha is also the voice of the hugely successful RTÉ children’s show Kiva Can Do, but her Late Late Show slot was selected entirely independently of her Kiva success.

“She got great news earlier this year about Kiva Can Do that it’s been bought by Nic Jr, so it will be broadcast to 180 countries around the world,” explained Eleanor.

Another local link to Friday night’s toy show is a performance by seven-year-old Ava O’Donovan, a pupil of The Academy of Dance, Carlow.

“Ava has spina bifida and after our recent dance show in the Woodford Dolmen Hotel we posted a video of Ava dancing and it was huge … so Ava is famous already,” smiled Fiona Hutton of The Academy of Dance, which is based at Carlow Youth Centre.

“Ava’s on crutches and on the toy show she’ll be dancing a cha-cha as part of a dance routine. We all looking forward to the show and we’re so proud of her,” added Fiona.